


Life's Little Stories

by HapSky



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Veterinarians, Animals, Aphelion: A VLD Writer Zine, Bonding Moments, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Veterinary Clinic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 08:27:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13543536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HapSky/pseuds/HapSky
Summary: Matt is a vet, Katie always hangs out at his clinic and Hunk just has this strange habit of finding lost or wounded animals. And if there comes a day he happens to have no reason to visit Katie in the clinic, his cat makes sure to eat some cheese.





	Life's Little Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Aphelion Zine](https://aphelionzine.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> This was a super fun project! I played around with my writing style and tried to write a story as if it were pictures in a photo album.
> 
> Beta read by the wonderful [CLDJendis66](https://twitter.com/CLDJendis66)

Gouda mews at Hunk, a stretched out and annoyed mew, eyes wide and pleading.

“Sorry, bud,” Hunk says as he ruffles his cat's fluffy ginger fur, “but it's your own fault this time.” Hunk sits in the waiting room of the Holt's clinic, Gouda obediently in his lap.

“How do you make him stay there?” the girl next to Hunk asks.

“Uh, I just trust him, I guess…?” he answers. It’s not like he trained Gouda to not run off, he just holds him, scratches his chin. Gouda mewls pathetically again.

“What’s wrong with him?” the curious girl wants to know.

“He ate too much cheese, again, and now he’s feeling sick,” Hunk laughs. “He’s always tried to steal some, since he was little. His name is Gouda because of that.” He looks at the slender girl, lively eyes and brown hair, tied into a ponytail. She holds a snoozing bull terrier in her arms.

“Why’re you guys here?” he keeps the conversation going.

A wicked grin creeps onto the girl’s lips as she says, “We’re just chilling at my brother’s to annoy him.” She chuckles at Hunk’s confused expression. “I’m Katie Holt, this is Gunther Holt,” she smirks and pats the dog’s head. “Nice to meet you.”

 

Hanging out at Matt's clinic almost daily, Katie has heard some funny stories of pet owners and their beloved ones. A cat eating cheese and as a consequence, suffering under lactose intolerance doesn’t impress her that much. Most cats are lactose intolerant. What strikes her more is this bond those two have.

Gouda is a pretty cat, his fur is long, clean and combed. Hunk takes good care of him, and glancing at the boy tenderly soothing his suffering cat, Katie has the feeling Hunk is just that kind of person, the one that takes good care of those dear to him. He emits this certain atmosphere of coziness and warmth.

It’s good to see someone being so close to their pet, trusting them, as Hunk has called it. Good to see a pet trusting it’s owner back. Those are the customers she likes best. She hopes Hunk comes back, and the next second hopes he does not. Cheese isn’t good for cats after all.

 

Hunk is a morning person. He usually gets up with the sun, usually enjoys an early breakfast, usually goes for a walk while the world is still in the progress of waking up, a stroll around the park. He doesn’t however, usually find a turtle. Small and quite ordinary, he would’ve missed it were it not for the fact that it’s sitting right there, on the wayside, half hidden beneath a bush in the park.

Hunk walks over and crouches down to inspect the animal. It is trying to eat one of the bush’s leaves, tiptoeing on it’s stumpy legs and stretching it’s short neck as high as it can. But before it can snatch the leaf, Hunk picks it up. Who knows, maybe those leaves are poisonous for turtles? It is a decorative plant after all.

What to do with a turtle? Hunk knows the ones used for breeding have to be registered, but this one, Hunk doesn’t think this one is old enough to bear children, if it’s female.

It’s slowly moving it’s legs, confused about why this doesn’t lead into it moving around, looking left and right, confused about how the world changed suddenly from being so big to being so much smaller. Best to bring it to a vet. They might have the necessary contacts to find out whether this little fellow is registered or not, Hunk thinks.

 

“Hi!” Hunk beams at Katie, walks into the waiting room and sits down next to her, ignoring the angry hissing coming from the old lady’s carrier on his other side. Hopefully the turtle ignores the upset cat as well.

“You’re back...” Katie states and stares at the animal in Hunk’s lap. It’s not the same as the last one that sat there. “...With a turtle?” she looks back up.

“Uh, yeah, found it in the park this morning?” Hunk explains. “Maybe Matt has a way to find out whom it belongs to.”

Katie nods and pets Gunther. He sleeps on her lap, and Hunk wonders how such a relatively big dog can fit on the lap of such a relatively small girl, and he wonders if it’s okay that Gunther drools all over her lilac dress.

Gunther must really like her, it’s only been two times Hunk has seen them, but both times, the dog had slept on Katie’s lap, instead of somewhere else in the clinic. But then, Katie really must like him too. Must like animals in general, spending her days in a vet’s clinic, even if it may be her brother’s. Hunk likes animals too, and if he didn’t mind the turtle pooping on him while he got here, Katie sure won’t mind her dog’s slobber.

 

Matt is the only one greeting Hunk this evening. “Hello,” he smiles and puts down his glasses. “What can I do for you today?” he asks with amusement. It’s the third day in a row that Hunk smiles back at him, a little full body laugh and a grin in his eyes.

“Just wanted to know if…” he scratches the back of his head. “Well, if it’d be okay to visit the turtle?”

Matt looks at him dumbfounded, though he can’t hold back a snort and a smirk, his sister’s so alike. “Sure, follow me,” he instructs and gets up. Gunther crawls out from beneath Matt’s desk and pads after him.

“I haven’t found the owner yet,” Matt informs Hunk. The turtle wasn’t registered, but that’s okay, because Hunk trusts Matt to find the owners nevertheless.

He is a good vet. Not exactly in the sense of being good at being a vet, more of being a vet because he is good. A good soul, he had talked with Gouda, playful “mreaws” tossed back and forth between them. He had calmed the old lady’s hissing cat with some scratches in just the right places. He keeps a lost turtle to find their owners. He ruffles his sister’s head when she falls asleep. He let’s Hunk check on his foundling. In Hunk’s book, Matt is good.

“Stay,” Matt tells Gunther, and Gunther sits down and stays, while he watches them enter the clinic’s backrooms.

 

Katie’s gloating laughter makes Hunk both, growl and glower at her, as well as smile and huff a chuckle. The turtle bit him, again.

“Oh my gosh,” Katie wheezes, “It really doesn’t like you feeding it!” Hunk pouts a little at that. He likes feeding the turtle. Why won’t it eat the salad, but his finger? Aren’t turtles vegetarian? Normally?

“Maybe it’s still upset I didn’t let it eat that bush in the park…” he muses, just so he could hear Katie break out into laughter again. She leads him to a nearby desk, away from the little enclosure Matt had set up for the turtle. Still snickering, she fetches patches and some disinfectant, and carefully treats the small bite wound.

“Why does she eat your salad, but not mine?” He inspects his finger, then watches Katie smirk again. The Holt Smirk, as Hunk refers to it by now. He has seen it often enough the past few days that he can tell, it is a family trait.

“Hm… Maybe,” Katie straightens her green sweater and brushes imaginary dust off her shorts, “because I’m a beautiful young lady,” she throws her hair over her shoulder dramatically, “and you’re…”

Now it’s Hunk’s turn to be smirking, “...I’m Hunk,” he says and in a bold moment of joking around adds, “Milady,” and winks at Katie. Katie, who definitely is not a lady. She blushes, then snorts, then laughs again.

She is glad that Hunk had found the turtle, had found his way back to this clinic. She hopes he will keep coming over daily, just like her, even after the turtle get’s picked up and taken back home in a few hours.

 

Hunk does, indeed, return the next day. Day six it is, Matt shakes his head checking the calendar. “Katie is walking Gunther, she should be back soon,” he tells Hunk, believing his sister would be the reason he is back.

But Hunk blinks a few times, mutters an “Oh, okay,” and then almost shoves a towel in Matt’s face.

“I think it broke his wing,” are his words to explain the tiny bat wrapped up in orange terrycloth. “It stands out in a weird angle? And it doesn’t start flying when put on high places…”

Matt was impressed that Hunk knew so much about turtles, and now this boy happens to know what to do when finding bats. He even wears gloves, and holds the little animal exactly how you should hold it.

“I’ll pay, just… can you heal it?” he asks, innocently like a little kid. It warms Matt’s heart.

“I can’t ‘heal’ it, but I’ll do my best to offer first aid. It’ll heal with time and proper nourishment.” He’ll check on it daily, Matt thinks to himself, and secretly is happy for Katie.

It’s not something to be happy about, actually, but well, a broken wing needs more time to heal than it takes to find a lost turtle’s home. The two of them instantly became friends the very first day, Matt mischievously wonders what might happen within the coming weeks.

 

Matt learns that Hunk pukes. Katie leaves the room with a rather unhealthy looking color dusting her cheeks. A hand clasped over her mouth, suppressing her gag reflex. So Matt is left alone preparing the bat’s “food”, squeezing out mealworms. He can’t blame them for leaving.

“You okay in there?” Katie asks Hunk, who groans. She slides down the wall to sit on the floor next to the toilet rooms.

“‘m sorry…” she hears Hunk mumble. She laughs at that, he really shouldn’t be sorry, she doesn’t feel any better. Matt could at least had given them some kind of warning before he just. Produced worm mash.

“My brother is the worst,” she grimaces like she just bit into a lemon.

“Nah, he’s not,” Hunk grimaces too, “He’s a good guy, just mean to humans sometimes.”

 

Mean to humans is well said, Katie thinks. The knowing looks and impish grins and suggestive eyebrow wiggles thrown at her won’t stop anymore, not even when they are at the clinic. Her brother really can be one pain in the ass if he wants to. It’s not like she could argue with him though. She does have a little crush on Hunk. But that’s no reason to pester her like this!

So when Hunk comes over today, she insists on going on a walk with Gunther, and Hunk is fine with that. Of course he is fine with that, kind, caring, charming Hunk. He asks if he’s allowed to hold the leash, and Katie doesn’t mind at all.

Hunk started talking with Gunther, small things, no harsh orders. He tells him, “Don’t go over there buddy, you’ll get wet!” and tells him, “Dude, keep that up and I’ll trip over you… come on, walk up ahead!” A friendly, “You’re a stupid dog,” when Gunther keeps rolling himself in freshly mowed grass.

Katie smiles, stays behind a little. Hands tucked behind her back, she watches Hunk walk her dog. It’s a nice day. Sunny, a light breeze sifting through her long untied hair, ruffling the seams of her dress. She hears Hunk’s happy laughter and Gunther’s excited barking. No squeezed out worms and no annoying looks from Matt. A refreshing day indeed.

 

Her heart beats fast, but the little bat’s heart must beat faster, she thinks. Hunk is a giddy mess next to her. It’s been so long and it’s been like yesterday at the same time that he had brought the bat. Now is it’s big day. Matt took them outside of the city, near a forest and near a cave, the perfect place to return the bat to the wild.

“You think it’ll fly?” Katie asks and gnaws on her lips.

“I hope it does,” Hunk breathes a chuckle, “It’s been brave, a tough lil guy.”

Katie doesn’t fear Hunk won’t visit anymore. She knows he will. He will come over, and if it’s just to ask if he could walk Gunther again. She silently thanks the little bat, that it had come into her live the way it has, right time and right place. She thanks the turtle and Gouda too. And she thanks Matt that he helped all those animals in need.

She feels utterly ridiculous when she notices the first tears tickling in the corner of her eyes. Stupid eyes, why do they have to cry. Stupid her, getting all emotional. She turns around and angrily wipes the tears away.

“Aww man, don’t cry. It’ll be okay, it’s gonna fly,” Hunk smiles and reaches for her hand. “Look it’s flapping it’s wings already!” he calls out, joy in his voice. “You have to look, Katie you’ll miss it!” he laughs.

Katie misses the bat taking off. But even though she pretends to pout the whole way back, she silently thanks whomever that she didn’t miss Hunk’s bright grinning face, sparkling eyes and toothy grin. Her heart beats oh so fast.

 

It’s tight, the lump in Hunk’s throat. A thousand thoughts thunder in his head. It’s breathing is weird. There is a hot liquid gushing over his hands and he doesn’t want to check what it is. He feels so sick. But the little fox must feel worse.

God he hopes Matt is there. Matt is always there, right? He hopes Katie isn’t, but Katie is also always there. He hopes so much she isn’t. Hunk knows it’s dumb to feel like this, but he hates that driver - he even hates the streets and cars right now. It whimpers in his arms, he feels bones in all the wrong places. He feels so sick.

He’s running, awkwardly, to not shuffle the fox too much. He doesn’t know why he didn’t just call the clinic. Stupid Hunk. But now he doesn’t stop either, afraid it will stop breathing when he stops running. It’s dumb to think that way. It’s selfish. Just because he needs to do something, needs to help. He’s so stupid for thinking he can help.

When he crashes into Matt’s door, not bothering going to the waiting room, he rushes straight into the back. “Matt!” he yells terrified and hurries towards the muffled answer.

“Katie is not-”, Matt stops at the sight of a crying Hunk and a bloody arm full of red fur. He moves quickly, silently. Picks up the fox without words and closes the door in Hunk’s face.

Hunk is scared. Scared to look at his hands. He gulps. Washes them with closed eyes. Leaves. Mind shut down, like that door. His body acting on autopilot. He’ll be late for work.

 

When Matt comes back home, Katie sees the dark gloom in his eyes. Sees the tiredness in his movements, sees the listlessness he drops down onto the couch with. He had to put one down.

She can tell, she has seen him look like this a few times before. She knows, Matt may help oh so much, may save almost every animal brought to him. But she also knows, it’s not all of them. It’s only natural that those who live will die, and sometimes, to help an animal can also mean to help it die.

It is amazing and fascinating, the willpower of animals, their sheer strength to keep on fighting. It’s also sad, kind of. Some fights can’t be won with willpower alone. Katie knows. She has seen it. Lives vainly fighting to live while dying. She has seen lives dying.

She sits down next to Matt, cuddles into his side. She doesn’t ask, Matt needs time. He will speak when he feels okay again. When a bit of that exhaustion death loads onto his shoulders has lifted. When Katie’s steady breathing and soothing warm presence makes him cuddle back.

“Hunk had found a fox,” he murmurs into her light brown hair. “It got hit by a car,” Matt sighs. “Poor boy was all in tears.”

Matt doesn’t say more, but he doesn’t need to. Katie learned enough from him, during his studies. He is not allowed to put foxes down, normally. He would have to contact the gamekeeper. Every animal part of an animal-vehicle crash must be reported. Even hedgehogs. Most people don’t know about this. Matt knows he normally is not allowed to do anything, but he also knows the gamekeeper only has the option to shoot.

 

Katie doesn’t know if Hunk stopped coming to the clinic, or not. She stopped, and she won’t ask Matt about it, whether Hunk was there. What if he was? What if he was not? Did he know about the fox already? Did he not? It doesn’t matter, because Katie wouldn’t know what to say anyway.

She doesn’t know how to console. Lives die, nothing to do about it. It’s sad, yes. And it’s okay to be sad. Although, she does not want Hunk to be sad. She wants him to shine again. She worries, what words could be right, what could she say, to not make Hunk sad.

She wonders and ponders, but in the end, she is left speechless after all. Because Hunk did indeed not visit the clinic anymore, instead he appears in front of her very door. Smiles. Grins. Holds up a big box and exclaims, “Brought you some muffins!”

 

It’s not the muffins and not his sweet words of comfort that make her cry. It’s the silent hug he offers. She sobs into his shoulder, clings to his shirt.

“Did-didn’t know-,” she coughs out. Hunk strokes her head, hums a quiet, “I know.”

Katie just cries more, at those two words, two words that hold so much meaning. Hunk knows. Hunk understands. Hunk feels just like her, more worried about each other than shaken by a life’s death. Hunk accepts her. She doesn’t need to find any words.

Hunk keeps holding her close, keeps caressing her gently, until her tears dry and a big relieving sigh leaves her lungs.

“He’ll never let me live this down, me crying in your arms…” Katie mumbles. Her whole body get’s shaken by Hunk’s laughter.

“Then don’t cry anymore,” he shines a bright smile at her. Hunk doesn’t need to find any more words either.

 

Katie had told him that he could stop by anytime. That it was not necessary to go to the clinic to meet her. Had told him, with a peck to his cheek, to meet her in private. With no mischievous brother’s eyes following her, no smell of disinfectants and no constant barking, meowing, chirping or squeaking.

So she is pretty confused when she sees him in Matt’s waiting room the next day. Then she sees fluffy ginger fur, hears a pathetic mew.

“Hunk,” she says and sits down next to him. “Your cat’s stupid,” she deadpans and even though she melts a little inside at Hunks chuckle, she really hopes he won’t come back to the clinic again. Cheese seriously is not good for cats.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :D  
>   
> Me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/HapSkyScribbles)  
> Me on [Tumblr](https://hapskyscribbles.tumblr.com/)  
>   
> Feel free to follow/unfollow :)


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